Government names seven candidates for new court

Government names seven candidates for new court

Kurniawan Hari and A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government has named seven candidates for the three seats on
the Constitutional Court bench as the Aug. 17 deadline to set up
the court draws near.

"The nominees will be submitted to the President immediately,"
Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra said on
Tuesday.

The seven, mostly scholars, are: H.A.S. Natabaya, a professor
of law at Palembang-based Sriwijaya University; Jimly
Asshiddiqie, a professor of law at the University of Indonesia;
Muktie Fajar, a professor at Brawijaya University; Hamid
Awaluddin, an expert on law and a member of the General Elections
Commission (KPU); Talib Puspokusumo, the Indonesian Consul
General in Houston, Texas; Harun Kamil, chairman of the
Functional Group faction at the People's Consultative Assembly
(MPR); and I Dewa Gede Atmadja, a professor at Bali-based Udayana
University.

The candidates were picked by a team comprising Coordinating
Minister of Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono, Attorney General M.A. Rachman and Yusril.

Yusril said the President would pick three out of the seven
candidates and announce the selection on Thursday, with their
installment scheduled for Sunday.

Under the new Constitutional Court Law passed on Aug. 6, the
President, the Supreme Court and the House of Representatives
(DPR) are to nominate three judges each, with a total of nine
justices to sit on the court.

The House announced over the weekend that they were in the
process of selecting its three justices from among its initial
nominees. Meanwhile, Djuhad Mahja, who was nominated by the
United Development Party (PPP) faction, had withdrawn his
candidacy, bringing the number of candidates to 13.

In his letter to the PPP faction, Djuhad did not explain the
reasons for his withdrawal.

Separately, a legislator expressed his disappointment over the
extremely poor response from the public regarding its candidates.

Member of House Commission II Teras Narang said the commission
had been expecting the public to respond positively in evaluating
the candidates before their two-day fit and proper test, which
begins today. Commission II is overseeing the selection of the
House's candidates for the Constitutional Court bench.

"Our commission expected constructive public input, but we
have only received a few (unsubstantiated) comments from people
on the Internet," Teras said on Tuesday, referring to comments
submitted anonymously to the Commission's website.

Deputy commission chairman Hamdan Zoelva, however, said
although the commission had received very little feedback, it
would take into consideration relevant discourse in the mass
media.

Teras was speaking at a meeting covering the selection with
National Consortium for Legal Reform activists Firmansyah Arifin
and Bambang Widjojanto.

During the meeting, Firmansyah demanded that Constitutional
Law experts, such as Sri Soemantri of Bandung-based Padjadjaran
University, Ismail Suny of the University of Indonesia and Soly
Lubis of Medan-based North Sumatra University, should also be
included among the nominees.

He also urged legislators not to select those candidates who
were close to the cut-off age for Constitutional Court justices.
The new law stipulates that serving justices must not be more
than 67 years of age.

Former Supreme Court judges Benyamin Mangkoedilaga and Edith
Nababan are both 66 years old.